Brexit explained

Thats a good question. I would have preferred a full Brexit not Norway but, & here comes the rub, managed by a competent government which were as one in agreement with the way forward. History has shown, so far at least, that extreme factions within the Conservative & Unionist sections have carried far too much weight in the decision making. 

I include the Unionists in this because I do not underestimate the negative impact that Unionist parties in Northern Ireland have had & continue to have in the debate. European leaders were, in my opinion, very ready to go that extra mile to keep Britain & all its huge benefits to the EU onside only to be slapped in the face by an ever increasingly bolshy Boris playing to his masters. My strongly held belief is that if we had a grown up leading the negotiations like Theresa May things would have turned out very differently. 

Nirvana comes to those who wait & listen. 

There is a trade agreement isnt there?

FFS - those of us who always foresaw that it would be a disaster argued that the final agreement should be put to a vote: the vote we actually had was an 'advisory' one - no politician was obliged to press ahead with 'any old Brexit' regardless. But - no. We were not allowed to vote on the Boris deal. 

WRT to the channel story - as it happens, we caught a ferry to France on Saturday (a day late - not Brexit related - there was a storm and the sailing was postponed); when we got to Roscoff, disembarkation took all of 2 hours - before Brexit 45 min would have been 'top end' of bad luck - but now every passport has to be scanned and stamped. Bloody great!

As for 'was it a good idea in the first place'? My best friend had lived in the USA for 20 years and at the time of the vote was still there - all his family voted for Brexit - I told him it would be a mistake. He moved back 3 years ago - by now, that he's had time to absorb the results, he's even more fed up with Brexit than I am! So, that from an intelligent guy who was on the fence until his return.

Finally - the hypocrites. Nigel Lawson actively campaigned for Brexit, but chose to live his declining years in France. That exact option was removed from many retired elderly British people living in the EU - mainly Spain and France - because their access to medical care through reciprocal arrangements was removed, and many - the poorer ones - were forced to move back to the UK, where housing is more expensive and the weather is worse. Never mind - it should shave a few years off their life expectancy. (They were not allowed to vote on Brexit, BTW.) In the meantime, many young, working, taxpaying EU people - a lot in the NHS - returned home, not fancying the 'hostile environment' championed by one Theresa May and made even worse by Patel and Braverman.

Also mentioned in despatches: Rees-Mogg (arch-Brexiteer, he moved much of his financial operations to Dublin post-Brexit):

James Dyson of vacuum cleaner fame, who: "In 2019, Dyson announced the company's permanent move from the United Kingdom to Singapore, where its headquarters are at the St James Power Station building.^[12] Ever since, the company has conducted its base of operations out of Singapore, with its headquarters being the hub for Dyson's research and engineering teams, as well as commercial, advanced manufacturing and supply chain operations.^[10][12] In 2022, Dyson announced that it would be investing a further S$1.5 billion in the country"